With the first day of school comes the introduction of the latest fashion trends. At CEOMOM, we love trends that don’t follow rules and are as fashion forward and practical as they are beautiful. Go Girl Designs are just that. These fun and stylish bangle bracelets that double as a hair tie holder are a must-have for any active girl who doesn’t want to compromise style for functionality. Founders, Debbie Perry and Lindsay Serfass, shared their inspiration behind Go Girl Designs and what makes the bracelets so unique.
What inspired you to create Go Girl Collection? What are your signature products?
Lindsay: I grew up with hair ties. It seems no matter what I did with my hair, I wanted to pull it up or back with a hair tie. But it seemed that whether they were on my wrist, in my purse, my car, they were everywhere when I didn’t need them and nowhere when I did. I grew up doing gymnastics which meant I wore them on my wrists a lot. Between the indentations and the numbness in my hands, hair ties became a literal pain. After playing around with a wearable fix, I brought the idea to my Mom (Debbie) in 2014. Being a successful entrepreneur herself, I knew she would have some good feedback and make a great partner. She loved the idea and Go Girl Designs was born.
Debbie: I never liked the look of hair ties on the wrist and hoped that when Lindsay started “real world” life, she would stop wearing them on her wrist. When I heard the idea and saw her design for a fun bracelet that looked great and hid the hair tie, I loved it! I love jewelry, I love a good investment, and I loved the idea of working with my daughter. Our signature product is our Busy Girl Bangle, a stylish bangle that hides your hair tie and keeps it conveniently close by when you need it. We have 4 collections: The Original Busy Girl Bangle, the BOHO Collection, the Ebony & Ivory Collection as well as our Busy Kids Bangle Collection.
Are there other brands like Go Girl Collection? If so, how do you stand out from competitors?
Our unique patented design is unlike any other on the market. Our Busy Girl Hair tie Bangle creates a versatile look that styles perfectly with any go to outfit in your closet. We designed the bangle to hide the hair tie so it looks like you are just wearing a great bangle bracelet and you can change the hair ties to a color that will match every outfit or it looks good if you have the hair tie holding your hair in a stylish updo.
We are in love with your designs. What is your design process? What inspires you to design each collection
Women of all ages inspire our designs. We consider ourselves fun women with a great sense of style, however, if we only designed based on what we like, we would not have seen the success that we have so far. Our designs for the most part come from the many personalities we find in our friends, our family and our fans, keeping in mind that every person has a different style just like each person has a different story. We represent very different age groups that have one thing in common – we LOVE jewelry! Some like shiny, some like bling, some like basic and we have worked on designs to represent as many personalities as possible and continue to work on trendy, but classic styles.
When Lindsay has a new idea or someone shares something we find interesting, we work on getting samples together. We have spent many hours working with beads of all sizes, hair ties of all colors and types, and are constantly asking for feedback for future product ideas and improvements.
Where do you see the Go Girl Collection in 5 years?
We want to be a household name and to see our designs on the shelves of all the major retailers nationwide. We hope to have a full line of functional jewelry designed for all the busy women balancing their work, family, and fun life.
As a mom of 6, how do you balance your dual roles as mom and entrepreneur?
Lindsay: Being a working mom has its fair share of challenges but also has its rewards. My family gives me purpose and drive me to be the entrepreneur and professional that I am today. I have a full-time job consulting Employers on their benefits packages so Go Girl Design was created and continues to develop in hours I can fit in and sometimes that has to be after I get babies to bed or weekends. Because I believe in it, I make it happen.
Debbie: My family is and has always been the most important thing in my life and I have always made time to be involved in their education and extracurricular activities. Financially, it was never an option for me to be a “stay at home” Mom, but I always managed to be there when my family needed me. I even managed, somehow, to be the team Mom for the youth football league, travel with my daughter who competed in gymnastics, volunteer for many school activities to name a few. I will admit I learned early on to perform on less sleep than is recommended but have always been blessed with good health and lots of energy. Supporting my family both financially and emotionally while teaching them to have a good work ethic were things I thought were important. I believe you have to be organized in work, family and fun to be successful. I have many lists and derive great pleasure from checking items off them…….. If you love what you do and do it with the attitude of excitement and anticipation, you learn to see what could seem to be very overwhelming both at work and home, as successes one step at a time!
Why is Go Girl Collection a ‘go to’ for back to school?
Every year kids are looking for something new and different to sport on their first day back to school. Something to show off to their friends. Our bangles, fashionable and functional, are the perfect hot new item on the market. Our bangles allow kids to wear their ever-needed hair tie in a stylish way without sacrificing the health of their wrists. From class to recess, they can throw their hair up and take it back down again always knowing where their hair tie is. The many colors allow them to start a collection and match one to each new outfit for school. We have seen kids have several on their backpacks – just in case!
Describe your latest collections. What makes them so special?
Our BOHO Collection is one of our latest collections, designed with a colorful personality in mind. Funny thing about our BOHO collection, I was not the biggest fan of this design in the beginning as I am more of a black and white kind of girl (hence the Ebony & Ivory Collection), however the feedback we got on this one was outstanding. Our BOHO Collection has been one of our more popular styles to date and we plan to expound upon this for sure so stay tuned. The Ebony & Ivory Collection is a classic style in which I have had in mind for a long time. I like to think of this collection as the “little black dress” collection, everyone needs at least one in their jewelry box.